Opportunities Towards a Green and Inclusive Workforce

This report by Genesis Analytics, commissioned by FSD Africa, Shell Foundation, and Shortlist, forecasts green employment opportunities across Africa with a focus on Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. It argues that Africa's green transition is primarily service-led and decentralized, meaning the majority of jobs will be indirect roles in distribution, maintenance, and operations rather than in construction or manufacturing. The study highlights a significant gap between the potential for job creation and the current availability of skilled workers, particularly in advanced technical areas. It emphasizes that while green value chains are accessible to women, youth, and low-income workers, these groups are often concentrated in low-value, informal roles, necessitating systemic reforms in workplace design, social protection, and training to ensure meaningful inclusion.

• Africa's green transition is projected to create between 3.8 and 7.9 million jobs by 2030, with this number potentially rising to between 65.9 and 84.5 million by 2050.
• The green economy in Africa is expected to be service-led rather than infrastructure-led; indirect jobs in installation, distribution, and operations are projected to account for 56% of all green employment by 2030 and 62% by 2050.
• Clean cooking is projected to be the largest green value chain in Africa by 2030, estimated to generate between 1.4 and 2.5 million jobs through community agents, maintenance technicians, and micro-distributors.
• A significant portion of the green workforce will be informal, with 86% of projected 2030 green jobs expected to be informal. By 2050, this is projected to decrease to approximately 51%.
• Women's participation in green jobs is projected to be 31% by 2030 (lower bound), potentially increasing to 44% by 2050 (high employment scenario), with clean cooking and solar home systems (SHS) expected to approach gender parity by 2050.
• There is a critical mismatch between existing training systems and industry demand. While basic installation skills are available, there are no national training programmes in Kenya, Nigeria, or South Africa for advanced roles such as battery management system governance, IoT-enabled remote operations, or carbon measurement, reporting and verification (MRV).
• In South Africa, the green economy is expected to generate 0.7–1.3 million jobs by 2030 and 4.3 million by 2050. The transition is characterized by a high formality rate (70%) and a concentration of jobs in energy, power, and waste recycling, though over 93% of workers earn less than $5,000 per year.
• Nigeria's green workforce is projected to grow from 1.2 million jobs in 2030 to 10.5 million by 2050, with a high prevalence of informality (87% in 2030) and nano-enterprises (73%). The energy and power sector dominates, accounting for 91% of projected 2030 jobs.
• Kenya's green employment is projected to grow from 364,000 jobs in 2030 to 2.6 million by 2050. Its 2030 market is more sectorally balanced than its peers, with significant shares in clean cooking (19%), solar home systems (18%), distributed renewable energy (17%), and utility solar (16%).

APA

Tarazona, M., Ghosh, D., Larraquy, U., Nyawacha, S., & Chasi, V. (2026). Opportunities Towards a Green and Inclusive Workforce. FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Unlocking-Africas-Green-Transition_Final.pdf

Chicago

Tarazona, Marcela, Daipayan Ghosh, Ursula Larraquy, Seth Nyawacha, and Vimbai Chasi. Opportunities Towards a Green and Inclusive Workforce. FSD Africa, 2026. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Unlocking-Africas-Green-Transition_Final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tarazona |first1=Marcela |last2=Ghosh |first2=Daipayan |last3=Larraquy |first3=Ursula |last4=Nyawacha |first4=Seth |last5=Chasi |first5=Vimbai |title=Opportunities Towards a Green and Inclusive Workforce |publisher=FSD Africa |date=June 2026 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Unlocking-Africas-Green-Transition_Final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tarazona2026opportunities, author = {Tarazona, Marcela and Ghosh, Daipayan and Larraquy, Ursula and Nyawacha, Seth and Chasi, Vimbai}, title = {{Opportunities Towards a Green and Inclusive Workforce}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Unlocking-Africas-Green-Transition_Final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }